by Jason Cheek
“This fucking sucks,” Grody swore as he limped up to Zeppy with a twisted broken leg, “we just cleared those bastards out!” If the Half-Troll was feeling the tension, then he knew it had to be worse for the rest of the guild.
“You want to call it and respawn at the graveyard?” Zeppy asked, letting out a heavy sigh as he cracked his neck from the building tension of their situation. Being repeatedly slaughtered in any game got old quickly, add that feeling to a game with a fifty percent pain threshold and it quickly became overwhelming.
“Naw, it’s good,” Grody said in a disgusted tone as his broken leg suddenly snapped back into place. Seeing Zeppy’s raised eyebrows, he laughed. “It’s pretty sweet, huh?”
“Yeah, it is, sweet cheeks,” Zeppy said as they both laughed. While the sight of the Half-Troll might make you want to puke, he had to admit the species healed up incredibly fast on its own without any healers. Well, they did as long as they were out of combat, Zeppy thought, as he watched Grody’s legs heal the rest of the way up. His focus was pulled back to the clearing around them as a chorus of monstrous bellows rang out as the sows charged. “You ready for this?”
“Not really,” Grody unhappily grunted at the approaching sight of imminent death. “One of these fuckers would’ve been enough,” the Half-Troll waved an arm at the mass of pork coming at them, “but this is just fucking ridiculous.”
“Zeppy’s Heroes, fall back to the pile of broken trunks at the eastern side of the clearing,” a familiar voice shouted out, before Zeppy could call out for his people to form up another twenty-yards back.
“Belay that order,” Zeppy snarled, as he angrily whirled around to see who the hell was calling out orders, “dammit, we’re still waiting for half of the guild to respawn back in!” Seeing Elandorr forming up a defensive line with the rest of the Assault Leaders backed by forty Rangers at the base of the log pile, Zeppy’s jaw dropped open in confusion. “What the hell are you guys still doing here?”
“Saving your asses, that’s what,” Elandorr barked back without hesitation, “so are you going to fall back to our lines or should we just be on our way?”
“No reason to be nasty about it,” Zeppy grumbled, before turning to Grody and switching to group chat. “What do you think?”
“That we’d be idiots for not accepting their help,” Grody hissed back, as Zeppy gave him a touché look, “unless you feel like being slaughtered over and over again until most of the guild rage-quits.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Zeppy muttered back, before switching back to raid chat, “What about the rest of our people?”
“What about them?” Elandorr shot back in the same tone, “We’re here to pull our ally’s asses out of the frying pan, not just some of them.”
“What are you doing?” a beat-up Lylar asked as the thunderous roar of approaching hooves began to shake the ground underneath their booted feet.
“Do it Mark,” Sunny hissed, giving him “the look” that every wife learned after years of being married. Normally, Vicki left decisions for the guild up to him, but if his wife was chiming in, it was for a good reason. Even so, he knew that it was already too late for them this time around as a working plan came to him.
“Alright people,” Zeppy called out in raid chat as he came to a decision, “we’re going to have to take one more hit for the team. Once you respawn back in, make your way back to,” he paused, feeling suddenly self-conscious at using the term NPCs to these guys faces, especially since they’d come back for them, “the House of Kayden troopers’ defensive line.” His eyes swept the survivors. “Let everyone respawning back in know the best that you can because this is about to get ugly.”
“Okay people, on my call, we’re focus-firing on the lead sow,” Zeppy called out, switching to his bow as the survivors started forming up around him and prepared whatever ranged attacks that they had available. Seeing that everyone was ready, Zeppy’s voice cracked like a whip, “Fire!”
This first attack, they’d all learned, was the most important. If you didn’t time it right, you’d lose half of the raid from the fucker’s counterattack, Zeppy thought, as most of their attacks bounced off of the Elite Barbed Rippers armor. Even so, enough damage got through that the sow’s barbs began flaring out as she closed to within twenty-yards of their defensive line.
“Get ready for it,” Zeppy warningly called out to his people as the spiney-barbs began to vibrate. Not that the warning was particularly necessary after the last hour that they had suffered from being continuously slaughtered by these fuckers, but it was good practice for a combat unit and was usually how Zeppy’s Heroes ran their battles. “Range classes, stay back to warn everyone else coming back in at the change of plans.” Getting several confirmations, Zeppy nodded to himself as the sow’s barbs flared forward and he cried out, “Down!”
The Barbed Storm Strike blasted over the survivors’ heads like an angry swarm of bees as they blasted into the forest behind them. Zeppy didn’t know if they could target a specific spot on the ground or not, but he figured it was best to error on the side of caution, meaning ducking just before the strike. What was most important was that the fuckers were vulnerable for thirty seconds to even their low-level melee attacks.
“Charge!” Zeppy shouted, as he sprang to his feet with the rest of the guild a half-second behind him.
How do you even describe the adrenaline pumping through your veins as you charge a group of massive boars each the size of a city bus? Zeppy silently wondered, as the thundering hooves pounding the frozen ground reverberated through his entire body and hammered at his ears. While that might sound like crazy talk to the uninitiated non-gamer, it was one of the most awesome rushes that he’d ever felt. Like being in combat for the first time in his life, but without the ball-clenching fear since Zeppy ultimately knew that he couldn’t permanently be injured in The World.
Not that death was a picnic, Zeppy sourly thought, but the pain just seemed to enhance the fun. Made it more like a contest in many ways, but one that made you feel like you were actually putting your life on the line. Though even with all of that said, the old vet couldn’t stop the pounding of his heart in his chest as he sent arrow after arrow at the massive beast. Not that any of his Multi-Shots did more than enrage the beast even more.
Zeppy could see his buddies Grody and Pheyed pacing him to either side as they run-and-gunned for the immense beast. While he could’ve stayed behind since he was officially classified as a Ranger, he’d learned from his time in both the Marines and later as a Police Officer that leaders led from the front. At least, they did if they wanted to be respected by the men and women under them. Besides, in The World, he was nearly as good at being a Rogue as he was a Ranger.
Baring his teeth as the Elite Barbed Ripper rose up before him like a wall of living flesh, Zeppy traded his bow out for his long sword and dagger. Clenching his weapon’s leather hilts in a white-knuckled grip, he decided he’d try the same move that Grody did earlier even as arrows and spells flew over his head. Silently praying that none of his guildmates would accidentally shoot him in the back, Zeppy aimed for the massive monster and leaped into the air still ten yards ahead of the boar’s lowered head.
The secret, Zeppy figured out, was properly timing the push-off. Unfortunately, while Grody had made it look easy when he’d managed it on the Young Boar that they’d taken down earlier, Zeppy quickly discovered that his buddy’s performance had been more of a matter of luck than any actual skill as his foot smoothly passed a foot over the sow’s lowered head.
Zeppy did his best to recover by thrusting his blades ahead of his body. Not that they helped much since he slammed into the Elite Barbed Ripper’s immense hump a split-second later with a force that broke probably every bone in his virtual body. It was like falling off a high rise without a parachute, splat. Not that Zeppy had any time to process that as his internal organs tried to burst out of his skin while he did his absolute best to imitate roadkill.
>
Alert system messages of critical debilitating injuries flashed before Zeppy’s eyes in his HUD as his body slowly began to be shaken free because of the monster’s rough gait. Though the enraged tossing of its head probably didn’t help either, Zeppy disconnectedly thought, as he caught a horrifying glimpse of his guildmates being trampled to death.
On the plus side, the Stun effect meant Zeppy didn’t lose his blades. The negative to that meant that his odd situation seemed to stretch out his torturous death forever as he watched his remaining hit points slowly dwindle to zero. Not that he had much choice since the Stun was for sixty seconds and his hands were locked around the hilts. The timer had only ticked down to twenty-seven when his body fell away.
“Grody’s never going to let me live this down,” Zeppy thought just as he was trampled to death by the sow’s hind legs.
Chapter Seventeen
(Jodi Tempest waiting at the edge of the Dark Wood’s clearing.)
At first, Jodi was at a complete loss as to why Zeppy and the remaining survivors would rush the line of charging Elite Barbed Rippers. They couldn’t even damage the monsters unless the boars blasted them with a Barbed Storm Strike. It just seemed like a majorly boneheaded thing to do, especially since they knew that Elandorr and his people were waiting for them. But, as the respawns started coming back in, the choice they’d made began making more sense.
The truth of the matter was that it took some time to get the entire twenty-one players on the same sheet of music. A point that became clear as many of the respawns went to attack as soon as they appeared near their corpses. That, and it took some time to cross the distance to the defensive line. An issue that quickly became a point of contention for Jodi until Bialaer set her straight.
“What do you think will happen as soon as we attack the sows killing your friends?” the Ranger demanded, as he jabbed a finger at the field of Lead Boars challenging one another while some of the more dominant females watched the outcome closely. “The entire group will attack at once and we’ll be right back to where we started this fiasco at.”
“But we’re just watching them get slaughtered again and again,” Jodi frustratedly complained. Though she had to admit that Bialaer had a good point, it went against everything she believed in to just watch them keep getting tromped and not doing anything to help.
“Do you think any of us like watching this?” Bialaer demanded, as Jodi bit back the first caustic comment that came to mind. Before she could think of something more to say, his next words took the wind completely out of her sails. “How long do you think we have before all of those PKers make it back to their gravestones and re-enter the fight?”
“Fuck,” Jodi swore as she saw the Half-Elf’s face soften in understanding.
“Look,” Bialaer said, as his voice took on an earnest tone that she’d never heard before, “we all respect the gifts that you newfar have been given,” he nodded to the field of gravestones and Zeppy’s Heroes being trampled for what had to be the tenth time for some of them, “but if we were to do that, our lives would be over. There wouldn’t even be enough left of our bodies for Nalaea to even attempt to resurrect us.”
“Their next set of respawns will put the majority of their people in range to reach our lines,” Bialaer said, as his calloused hand urgently gripped her shoulder. It was odd. Normally, such a breach of her personal space by a man she didn’t know, or hell anyone for that matter, would’ve made her spitting mad, but here, it seemed to fit the intensity of the situation perfectly. “Can I count on you to get them to form up and to wait willingly for the rest of their brothers and sisters to reach us?” Seeing her take a breath, he added one final caveat. “I promise you, if we’re forced to fight sooner, we’ll do whatever is needed, but holding off on aggro’ing all of the Elite Barbed Rippers at once is the primary goal.”
“I’ll do it,” Jodi said, with a slew of mixed feelings. She knew that the ex-military and police officers were going to be less than pleased to be told to hold back on helping their friends. From what she’d picked up after hearing the guys talk about their gaming group, they were more of a family than a guild.
“Good,” Bialaer said, glancing over his shoulder, “because the first group is coming in.”
“Fuck,” Jodi swore under her breath, as the Ranger quickly headed back to his position overlooking the battlefield from near the top of the smashed trunks and branches.
‘I told you,’ Fiona knowingly sent, as she blinked to her side with a pop of displaced air. ‘Are you going to need a hand?’
‘Probably wouldn’t hurt,’ Jodi replied with a mental sigh, as she began heading over to meet the approaching group of obviously angry players. ‘Just don’t attack them directly,’ she warned, ‘because that’ll just make the situation worse.’
‘Uh-huh,’ Fiona sent, as she puffed out her coat to look bigger and fell a few steps behind.
“What the fuck is up with these assholes,” Warduke demanded, even before she’d had a chance to come to a stop. Not that the Warrior even bothered slowing down as he aggressively tried to brush past Jodi to go after Bialaer, “they’re just letting us be spawn camped again and again?”
“What else are they supposed to do?” Jodi demanded, as she got in Warduke’s way and forced him to focus on her instead of Bialaer. “They shouldn’t even be here to help us in the first place.” As the man paused, Jodi drove the point home. “Should they just die like rats because all of us got unlucky? Or, was that whole “we got this” and “go on without us” a bunch of cocky ass bullshit that none of you meant in the first place?”
“Take it easy on Warduke,” ChopU Ginsu said, placing a brotherly hand on the other man’s shoulder, “we’ve had a pretty shitty go of it with those high-level beasts.”
“Yeah, this fifty percent realism is no joke when it comes to being spawn camped over and over again,” a beat-looking Lylar disgruntledly said as Sunny, Lylar, and Tumms staggered to a stop next to him behind the pair of Warriors.
“You think,” Jodi asked, waving a hand at her own partly destroyed armor, “you do know that you’re not the only ones who went through some shit, right.” Seeing the guys do a doubletake at her bare abdomen and leg, she gave them an annoyed frown. “Really,” as the guys began stuttering out an apology, she waved it away, “that’s not the point.” Understanding herself how hard it was not to look, some of the crew hadn’t bothered to get fully dressed and she was enjoying the view herself. “These guys have a plan to help us that we need to follow so we can get the fuck out of this mess.”
“What’s the current plan,” a frustrated Warduke asked after trading an uneasy look with the rest of his guildmates.
“We’re going to have take out this group of boars and get the fuck out of dodge,” Jodi said, nodding towards the eight Elite Barbed Rippers that were continuously circling back around to trample over the remaining Zeppy’s Heroes that were respawning back in about thirty-yards out, “Elandorr and Bialaer want to make sure that they keep the groups split up as much as possible.”
“What do you think?” Warduke asked, turning to the rest of their group just as a few more pissed players stalked up. Instead of blowing their stacks, they listened as Sunny stepped forward.
“If these NPCs are basically at the same ability-level as that of an Advanced start player as per what the last Emergency Hot Fix warned,” Sunny said, as her eyes got a faraway look, “they probably have five or six Enhanced Shadow Bolt spells that they can casts,” she gave the group a shrug, “maybe more depending on the size of their mana pools, but then again, there are only three actual mages in the raid besides our own people.”
“So, they could probably handle six of those monsters,” Lylar said, understanding what Sunny was getting at.
“More if they waited until after the beasts released their barbs,” Tumms added thoughtfully, “but that’s still going to be ugly.” There were a number of nods from around the group at the Devil Dog’s words.
> “So, let’s say they can take down this current group,” ChopU Ginsu said, grimly meeting his fellow tank’s eyes, “the strategy is to divide and conquer.”
“Sounds more like divide and run away,” Tumms said, as his comment earned a chuckle from the group.
“Whatever works,” Warduke said, as he eyed the main group of Elite Barbed Rippers on the far side of the clearing, “That leaves trying to escape from what, sixteen to twenty of these bastards?” All of the players shared a quick look with one another, before Warduke turned back to Jodi, “Okay, we’re in.”
“Don’t worry,” Sunny assured, as she saw the hesitant look that flashed across Jodi’s face, “we’ll get everyone on track.”
To Jodi’s surprise, it only took one additional rotation of deaths for the majority of the players to retreat back to the defensive line that Elandorr and his people had set up. That was mostly due to Zeppy, Grody, and Pheyed sacrificing themselves for the cause. Their charges kept the Elite Barbed Rippers focused on them while the rest of their friends fell back while collecting everyone's gear from their gravestones.
“Come on and head back in,” Sunny called in raid chat, as the boys popped by their gravestones, “it’s time!”
“What in the hell do you think we’ve been trying to do woman?” Zeppy complained, as he gathered up his gear and began running towards the edge of the clearing.
“Playing hero,” Sunny said with a laugh.
“It is part of the name,” Grody added, as he began racing back from his own gravestone.
“Then why are the two of us out here with him in that case,” Pheyed humorously asked.
“You’re keeping me honest,” Zeppy called back, as the Elite Barbed Rippers let out a bestial shriek and began charging after the trio, “I hope you guys are ready for this, because we’re bringing home the bacon.”
“Aren’t you supposed to kill it first?” Sunny asked, as the thunderous sounds of hooves grew around them.
